The Mogadore Wildcats were in top form Wednesday night, blowing the doors off Garfield during the first quarter en route to a 50-25 Barberton Division III Sectional final victory.

With the win, Mogadore is set to take on Waterloo next Tuesday in a district semifinal game at Barberton. Waterloo defeated St. Thomas Aquinas 40-32 in the first of Wednesday's doubleheader.

Mogadore (11-13) came out swinging to start the game, putting together a 25-7 first quarter that all but eliminated Garfield (8-15) before the end of the first half.

The Wildcats' Brinkley Harvey knocked down two 3-pointers, while teammates Grace Reilly (8 points) and Ashley Barker (6) knocked down shots while making sure the G-Men offense stayed stuck in neutral.

Mogadore head coach Tom Pollock said that he's really happy with the way his team is rounding into form.

"I think we're really playing more aggressively than we have all season," the first-year head coach said. "Part of it is really that, when the year started, the girls didn't really know what to expect from me and I didn't really understand them.

"Lately, though, the girls have really begun to accept their roles and embrace what we're asking them to do."

Mogadore embraced defense on Wednesday as the G-Men failed to score double-digits in any quarter, struggling as much with the Wildcats' defense as they did with their own offense.

Garfield finished the first half with just 13 points and did not crack the 20-point mark until a Melody Bright 3-pointer with 22 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

The G-Men committed 31 turnovers, thanks in large part to the effort of Wildcats players like Makenzie Williams and Naomi Pollock.

"Makenzie played really great defense for us tonight," coach Pollock said. "She's been playing really well the last two games for us and she's really running our defense."

Reilly finished with 15 points to lead the Wildcats, including two 3-pointers. Barker also put up double-digits with 12 points, while Naomi Pollock added 10 points.

Garfield was led by Caytlin Armstrong and Alicia Witte, who each finished with seven points. Armstrong also led the G-Men with six rebounds.

Garfield head coach Aaron Gilbert said that he was disappointed by his team's performance in what proved to be its season finale.

"The bottom line was we just dug ourselves way too big of a hole," Gilbert said. "We couldn't hit our shots, we couldn't rebound and we just committed a ridiculous amount of turnovers."

Email: charris@recordpub.com

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